Brodner's Person of the Day: John D. Rockefeller
October 25, 2007
Democrat Cave-In of the Day
Sen. John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV (W. Va.), in an incredible act of political spinelessness, gave Bush more than he asked for in the new FISA law, making him and the Democrats just as guilty of violating the rights of Americans and the U.S. Constitution. Rocky negotiated a new bill to correct abuses of power in electronic eavesdropping ON AMERICANS by winding up giving into Bush with a bill that MAKES IT WORSE.
After The Times disclosed the program in late 2005, Mr. Bush looked for a way to legalize it retroactively. He found it this summer. FISA also requires a warrant to intercept strictly foreign communications that happen to move through data networks in the United States. That Internet-age flaw has a relatively simple fix. But the White House seized the opportunity to ram through the far broader bill, which could authorize warrantless surveillance of Americans' homes, offices, and phone records; permit surveillance of Americans abroad without probable cause; and sharply limit the power of the court that controls electronic spying.
Democrats justified their votes for this bad bill by noting that the law expires in February and by promising to fix it this fall. The House bill did, in fact, restore most judicial safeguards. But the deal cooked up by Mr. Rockefeller and the White House doesn't. It would not expire for six years, which is too long. And it would dismiss pending lawsuits against companies that turned data over to the government without a warrant, says the Times in a particularly pointed editorial last Saturday.
PS: This bill also lets telecommunication companies off the hook for the roles they played in past wiretapping. Guess who they have been stepping up campaign contributions to...yep, ROCKY! Here's John Dean's take on the issue via Olbermann:
PPS: Here's the photo of the day, perhaps of the year. This protester
called Rice "war criminal" to her face before she was hauled out. Calls
out to be drawn. Any takers?
